Midwest Crop Tour – Day 3
Today, we left Bloomington, Illinois bright and early (other than having to jump-start the Ag Day Pickup) and headed due north for about an hour before starting the route. We then traveled north to slightly above DeKalb and then headed due west to Savanna, Illinois right on the Mississippi River, where we crossed into Iowa. We then made about 5 counts in Iowa and headed over to Iowa City for the night. We originally thought we would be done by 3 and it was closer to 5 before we finished and that was with some help from the folks from USDA.
The main observations that I can make about Illinois and Iowa today is variability and dry. We would make a stop and walking into the end rows we would think this the best crop we had seen, then go another 15 paces and think it was the worst and then by the time we got into where to count, we were back to thinking it was the best. The same with the soybeans. But on almost every stop, we could see it was dry and the crops needed rain. We saw fields with cracks up to an inch wide and the dust was flying.
Some rain is expected tonight and tomorrow over parts of the corn belt and that may help.
The final results for Illinois was a corn yield of 170.48. However, this is purely based on our samples. When Pro Farmer releases their final report on Friday, the actual projection for Illinois will be adjusted to reflect the condition of the crop including the lack of moisture. This may easily result in them cutting the final yield for Illinois by a few bushels. The counts we are getting today were probably set a few weeks ago and as conditions stay dry and the possibility of an early frost, this crop could easily drop 10%.
Tomorrow is our final day. I have enjoyed the first three days, but it is always nice to get it wrapped up tomorrow and then try to make a guess on the final Pro Farmer number. Last year I think I was within about bushel of their number, but this year I could see me being off by 5 bushels or more.
We will keep you posted.
Paul Neiffer, CPA
Paul Neiffer is a certified public accountant and business advisor specializing in income taxation, accounting services, and succession planning for farmers and agribusiness processors. Paul is a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen in Walla Walla, Washington, as well as a regular speaker at national conferences and contributor at agweb.com. Raised on a farm in central Washington, he has been immersed in the ag industry his entire life, including the last 30 years professionally. Paul and his wife purchase an 180 acre ranch in 2016 and enjoy keeping it full of animals.
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